2015 Northern Trust Open takeaways: Sergio Garcia gives it away, Dustin Johnson returns

It was a fun week at the Northern Trust Open, capped by a dramatic Sunday that featured lots of leaked oil at Riviera. No one crashed harder at the end than Sergio Garcia. Here’s what I took away from his latest stumble, his even-keel response afterwards and the other big stories from the week in Los Angeles.

Sergio, oh, Sergio. Poised to take home his first PGA Tour win since 2012, Sergio Garcia did what most of the trolling golf-Twitter crowd expected him to do: he imploded.

Heading to the reachable par-5 17th, a birdie would have put Garcia in the driver’s seat to bring home the victory. Instead, Garcia made bogey on one of the easier holes at Riviera. He then followed that up with a terribly yanked drive on No. 18.

Thanks to his poor tee ball, Garcia was forced to rip his second shot more than 250 yards towards the green, coming up just short. A terrible chip shot then followed, setting up a 20-foot par putt just to get to extra holes. He missed it and the bogey put him on the outside of a playoff.

For whatever reason, this has been Garcia’s reputation and he has done well to uphold that reputation. Remember in 2013 at TPC Sawgrass? Locked in a battle with Tiger Woods at the game’s “fifth major,” he went to the 17th with a chance to win. He then proceeded to pump two balls into the water around the famed island green.

Remember when Sergio tripled the 17th at the BMW Championship? How about a few years ago when Sergio let one slip away at the Barclays?

You can find much more if you just search “Sergio Garcia choking.” The list is long and it’s a shame a player of his talent level has had so many failures. What’s even more interesting is his attitude toward those failures.

Sergio famously said he may never win a major and at the time it was an odd comment. At 32-years old, it seemed the Spaniard would eventually get at least one. He had to. He was (and still is) too good to not get it done. And it was a confusing comment to make from a fan’s perspective. We always assume professional athletes have overflowing confidence and belief in the themselves. His comments put him in a different category. Maybe, he was just content with winning here and there. Maybe he would just continue to work on his game and cash checks. It was a different perspective you don’t normally see or hear about.

And then, after another collapse on Sunday at Riviera, Sergio reiterated that perspective but it wasn’t in a temperamental and whiny way this time. After the Northern Trust Open, he stated he didn’t deserve to win, and that he knew the bogeys on the last two holes would get all the run, but his game all week wasn’t deserving of a win. We were expecting Sergio to be pissed off, bristling at interviewer Peter Kostis, perhaps blaming the weather or something other than himself. But he was quite rational, reflective and introspective, if anything. It may have been BS, but it was hard to be critical of his comments or attitude like we normally are after rounds don’t go well for him.

In August of last year, Dustin Johnson announced he would be taking a leave of absence from the Tour to “seek help for personal challenges.” It was generally assumed those challenges stemmed from rumors about partying, drinking and drug use. A Golf.com report indicated that DJ was going to be hit with a drug suspension after testing positive for cocaine but took the leave of absence before that became official.

DJ says he took the time to get himself right both mentally and physically. And it appears he has taken the time to get his golf game in order. After finishing T4 last week at Pebble Beach, he was nearly broke through in just his third start back this week at Riviera. Most impressive Sunday was a wedge shot -- the oft-cited weakness DJ’s game and an impediment to larger success -- that he hit from an near-impossible position at the iconic 10th green.

Sure, it would have been nice to get his ninth career victory, but I am sure there’s a psychological benefit to a runner-up finish this early in the season and this early in his return to golf.

This year’s major venues will set up well for DJ, as they often do thanks to his incredible length. If he can keep his head straight, he will contend at the monstrously long Chambers Bay. He should have won at Whistling Straits when the PGA went there in 2010, if not for his legendary waste area/bunker fiasco. This year’s PGA Championship will return to the site of his previous best chance for a major.

Look for a big year for DJ. Personally, I am happy to see him back and doing well. He is a superstar that the Tour desperately needs and when he’s rolling, he can be a worthy challenger to the talent of Rory McIlroy.

I am reluctant to call some of the leaders this week “old.” In the grand scheme of things (golf included) they are not that old. Now, compared to most PGA Tour pros, they most certainly are old. But let’s go with “experienced.”

Vijay Singh and Retief Goosen are among the most seasoned and experienced Tour regulars. This week they relied on that experience (which includes five major championships) to both post top-12 finishes.

I’m sure they are both proud of their accomplishments at Riviera and will go forward trying to contend the rest of the year. But their success raises an interesting topic: with better technology, fitness, nutrition, etc. on Tour as the norm these days, we could definitely see the likes of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson contend for many more years to come. In terms of talent, those guys are way ahead of Goosen and Singh. And seeing those names on the first page of the leaderboard should be an indicator for Mickelson and Woods to keep grinding, and perhaps for another full decade.

Of course, that takes into account a large assumption they have the desire to do that.

Bubba cried in Bieber’s arms?

I would be remiss if I didn’t revisit possibly the biggest story of the week: Bubba Watson once cried in Justin Bieber’s arms. Thanks to Kyle Porter, here’s a rendering of how and where I think the incident went down.